USB 3.0

We all know that support for USB 3.0 on Windows computers today isn't nearly as wide spread as most of us would like. The main reason for this is that there is still no chipsets with USB 3.0 controllers onboard. The maker of the mainboard has to use a third party chipset to enable USB 3.0 support. Microsoft is now promising that Windows 8 will have robust USB 3.0 support.

Adata has unveiled a new portable HDD that uses the fast USB 3.0 interface to allow for much faster data speeds when storing data to the drive. The external storage device is called the SH14 and it comes in black or red colors. It will work with USB 2.0 ports as well and needs no power adapter to operate. The drive certainly looks different from the rugged external storage device I have seen.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced [pdf link] a new super-charged power delivery spec for USB 2.0 and 3.0 connections, which could deliver up to 100W to external peripherals. Intended to encourage the adoption of microUSB on more gadgets - which may previously have demanded greater power than the current USB Battery Charging Specification 1.2 allows for - the work-in-progress standard would also allow you to flip the direction of the charging without needing to swap the cables around.

Seagate has outed its latest GoFlex Turbo external hard-drive range, and as well as promising a high-speed USB 3.0 way of getting your data onto the disk, there's also some reassurance that you'll be able to get it off again should things not go to plan. Seagate is bundling its SafetyNet data recovery service with the new models, a two-year insurance policy that will see the company attempt to remotely or in-lab extract your data should the drive break.

Verbatim has a new line of external storage drives that are thin and compact plus they are clad in brightly colored cases. The new external HDDs are called the Verbatim color splashed Store 'n' Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0 portable HDD. The new drives are designed to connect to your USB 3.0 drive as the name of the drive shows.

Buffalo has launched a new portable storage device called the MiniStation Plus. Previously we talked about other MiniStation storage devices and this new offering is similar. The new MiniStation Plus connects to a USB 3.0 port to offer fast storage for whatever the user needs. The storage device is compatible with USB 2.0 ports as well, but using a USB 2.0 port will reduce the performance of the drive.

Acer has revealed its updated TimelineX range of notebooks, including the 13.3-inch 3830T, 14-inch 4830T and 15.6-inch 5830T, and using Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i3 and i5 processors. The new TimelineX machines offer either integrated Intel HD graphics or NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M/540M graphics with Optimus switching, with battery life up to 9hrs or 8hrs respectively.

Gigabyte has outed its latest tablet, the S1080, running Windows 7 on a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N550 dual-core processor. Fresh to Computex 2011 this morning, the S1080 has a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 multitouch display, 2GB of memory and weighs 0.9kg, taking on the ViewPad 10Pro in the process.

Kingston has a huge number of flash drives that users can choose from for low cost, high capacity, and fast transfer speeds depending on their needs. The company has rolled out a new flash drive that it reports to be its fastest USB 3.0 flash drive yet. The flash drive is backwards compatible with USB 3.0 as all USB 3.0 gear is. The new flash drive is called the DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 or DTU30G2.